Already trailing 2-0 in the first 45 minutes and actually completely without a chance, Otar Kiteishvili (45th + 4) and Mika Biereth (47th) scored a double strike in the last competitive game of the year for a comeback and a fairly open second half The decision was only made in the finish by “Joker” Hakon Haraldsson (81st).
Osame Sahraoui (37th) and Mitchel Bakker (45th + 1) had previously scored for the French. Two weeks after winning their first point in a 1-0 home win over Girona, Sturm failed to score for the second time in their sixth premier class appearance. The chances of promotion are only of a purely mathematical nature anyway. Atalanta Bergamo (21st/away) and RB Leipzig (29th/home) are still waiting for the Graz team in January.
Sturm mainly ran after the ball at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in the first half. The hosts, happy to play and confident on the ball, had fun even without the ailing attacker Edon Zhegrova, but for a long time they only had to be criticized for not exploiting their chances. Sturm acted extremely passively, especially in the first 20 minutes. He was lucky that Jonathan David couldn’t process the ball from a Stangl pass in the five-yard box, or that Remy Cabella narrowly missed the far corner (6′).
Penalties against Sturm were not given
A penalty due to a collision by Niklas Geyrhofer on Sahraoui was overturned by the Bulgarian referee Kabakow after VAR study (17th), and just under a quarter of an hour later David missed a real shot from short distance (30th). It finally took until the 37th minute before Sahraoui completed a quick action with a shot into the far corner without much resistance from the Blackys. When Bakker added in stoppage time in the first half, the game seemed almost over.
But even before the half-time whistle, Sturm, in the person of Kiteishvili, struck back out of nowhere. With a bit of luck, the Georgian got the ball after a cross and slammed it into the top corner of the cross from a few meters. The Styrians, who actually had no chance and had only had two or three timid shots on goal, were suddenly back in the game – and took the momentum with them from the locker room.
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Image: GEPA pictures/Avni Retkoceri
Source: Nachrichten
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
